Why Does The Caged Bird Sing?
by The Majestic Idiot
Summary: Velena has always been a prisoner of her gender, but when her brother dies, and she seizes the opertunity to take the freedom she has been singing of her whole life. Pairing up for sugestion.


**"**A free bird leaps

on the back of the wind

and floats downstream

till the current ends

and dips his wing

in the orange sun rays

and dares to claim the sky."

Velena watched as her brother, Lazareth, and the Men of The Storm trained with their swords. She sighed deeply as she wished she could join them. "Is the little bird singing?"

"Morganis, I am not dreaming of something impossible, I can fight. I have trained with Syrio Forel," Velena said as Lazareth swung His sword, Separator.

"Do not fool yourself into believing you are better that a Man of the Storm," Morganis advised as she smiled politely to the people who past the pair.

"Look at them, Morganis, even Lazareth swings from the shoulder!" Velena exclaimed pointing to her twin brother.

"So?" Morganis asked. "Where else would they swing from?"

"The elbow," Velena demonstrated empty handed.

"The shoulders stronger,"

"But the elbows quicker. Besides, it only takes a pound of pressure to break human skin."

"How do you know such queer things?" Morganis asked.

"I-"

"No, I do truly want to know," Morganis raised her hand to stop her sister. "Cyrus, slow down!" She scolded as their youngest sibling sprinted towards the sparring knights.

Cyrus had just finished saying something to Lazareth when a group of men rode in on large horses swinging swords and axes.

* * *

" But a bird that stalks

down his narrow cage

can seldom see through

his bars of rage

his wings are clipped and

his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing."

Velena listened to the fighting as she, Morganis, and Cyrus hid in a small, dark room.

"They will be fine Velena," Morganis whispered.

"I should be out there fighting wih them," Velena said, itching to grab a blade, and dismember the attackers.

"Will you stop with that nonsense! You are not a water dancer, you are my a Man of the storm, you are not a solider. You are a woman, you do not fight."

"No, I am a caged bird who sings, and I will have my freedom!"

Velena said before slipping out of the room, and picking up the sword of a fallen man.

* * *

"The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom."

Velena fought beside her brother a she alwats wished she could. The attackers were retreating, they did not look back as they fled the Silver Mountains. The last man that stayed to fight was large and strong. Velena laughed as she twisted herself behind his and aimed her sword at his heart.

Her heart sank as she heard a loud cry come from her brother. She plunged the sword down with all her strength, and rushed to her brothers side.

* * *

"The free bird thinks of another breeze

and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees

and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn

and he names the sky his own."

Two months had passed. Her mother was now ill with grief. There was a down side to being twins with a dead man, everyone looks at you as if you are a ghost.

Velena wished she could leave. It pained her family to look at her, it was as if the gods were taunting them with an exact replica of their dead loved one.

"Lazareth?" Mina, her brothers betrothed, or she was her brothers betrothed. "Oh, I'm sorry Lady Velena. I thought-"

"You thought I was Lazareth," Velena said tiredly. "Everyone seems to."

"You are- were twins. You two look like you were made from a mold. You could pass for him if you bound your breast, cut your hair, and changed your clothing."

"While that is true it would do more harm than good."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I wish to leave! I am a ghost haunting people with the memory that Lazarus Stormmen "The Storm Bringer" is dead. The only way I could leave is if I took the Black at the Wall up North, and I could not do that unless I was a ma-" Velena paused as a realization hit her.

"What?" Mina asked as Velena turned to her with a wide, terrifying smile.

* * *

"But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing."

Velena walked into her fathers study with her head held high, and a determined look In her eyes. "Father," she said in the voice she spent he past few hours rehearsing with a reluctant Mina.

"Lazarus?" Her father asked looking up from his papers.

"Yes," she replied straightening her back, and putting her hand on Lazareths- her sword, Separator.

"How?" Her father asked. "You died!"

"No father, I am alive. It was Velena who died."

"But I saw-"

"You saw her die, and you saw her being burried."

"What?"

"I am taking the Black," Velena said before he could decide whether she was lying. "I have come to say goodbye."

"We can not lose another child!" Lord Lazar yelled.

"I am sorry father, but it's not heathy, for any of us, for me to stay. I have written letters for each of you in my bedchambers, see that everyone gets theirs.

* * *

"The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom."

"Lazareth Stormmen," Benjen Stark greeted 'Lazareth'. "I believed you were dead."

"As does everyone else, but as you can see that is not the case," Velena said as her horse trotted on beside the Snow boy.

"It is said you were run through with a sword," Jon Snow said.

"That was not me. That was my sister Velena. People always confuse us, that's the worst part of being a twin."

"Is that why you are taking the Black?" Jon asked.

"No."

"Then why?"

'Because,' she thought remembering her house words, 'We Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.'


End file.
